Orangutan Primate Observation

“In their natural homes in the wild, chimpanzees humans’ closest living genetic relatives”, who are more like us than they’re like gorillas are never separated from their families and troops . “Profoundly social beings, they spend every day together exploring, crafting and using tools to solve problems, foraging, playing, grooming each other, and making soft nests for sleeping each night” . They care deeply for their families and forge lifelong friendships . Chimpanzee mothers are loving and protective, nursing their infants and sharing their nests with them for four to six years . They have excellent memories and share cultural traditions with their children and peers . They empathize with one another and console their friends when they’re upset . They help others, even at a personal cost to themselves . When one of another

Primates are one of the most interesting mammals on earth, not only because of their complex social structures, but because they hold so many similar characteristics to humans. Primates are often cited as our closest living relatives and on two separate occasions I observed four separate species of primates at the San Diego Zoo that can justify their use of their physical characteristics and behaviors that may be similar as well as different to the other primates and ours.

Within this essay, we will study more in depth the behavioral as well as physical traits of two primates at a zoo from their interaction with their peers to their place in the group. This observation would enable us to further understand the possible existing correlation between humans and primates. First, I studied a female chimpanzee with her baby, and then, a dominant male gorilla, in San Francisco Zoo at about noon, on May 23, 2015, for an hour each. Even though they share some similarities such as having a large brain, living for a long time, and being bored in their enclosure, they are still different; when gorillas are the largest, chimpanzees are the smartest. In fact, chimps use tools to catch food, they would not be able to reach

The fundamental physical prerequisites of people , just like all organisms , are : water, for various metabolic process; foods, to provide energy, raw materials for developing entirely new living matter, as well as chemical substances required for vital reactions; oxygen, to discharge energy from foods materials; heat, to enhance chemical effects; and also pressure, to enable inhaling and exhaling” This like this article and think that it relates to . To be able to understand how humans evolved from early existence forms, we can quickly take a look at our closest relatives, the primates. Primates consist of us (Homo sapiens), the apes, the monkeys, as well as prosimians, for example, the lemur. We can easily be familiar with primate behavior

I primarily observed three orangutans, one male, one female, and one juvenile, of Sumatran and Bornean descent, scientifically known as Pongo abelli and Pongo pygmaeus, respectively, and to a lesser extent, two gibbons known as siamangs, or Symphalangus syndactylus. These primates share the same enclosure in the San Diego Zoo in California. I observed the orangutans from 12:58 P.M. to 2:00 P.M. CST on September 19th. During this time frame, the three orangutans mainly stayed high up in their man-made structures, consisting of multiple metal bars covered with nets, ropes, and hammocks. The female and juvenile orangutans stayed above ground from 12:58 P.M. to 1:31 P.M., and again from 1:48 P.M. until 2:00 P.M, approximately 45 minutes. During

Isbell and Wright’s articles both focus on monkey species and their native environments, Africa for Isbell’s (1994) vervet Old World monkey and South America, Peru area, for Wright’s (1994) owl and titis monkeys. The articles main focus is the relationship between these monkeys and their natural predators. Focusing on how the predator aspect of their lives is determined by their environment and adaptations they make to ensure survival. Isbell’s Vervets Year of Doom focuses more on the adaptations that was forced upon the vervets’ because of their changing environment, the death of fever trees. While Wright’s Night Watch on the Amazon focusses more on how the primates way of life affects their relationship with predators and the likelihood of attacks. Both articles have similar aspects however the species way of life, specifically their environment and sleep schedule, are quite different as well as the authors way of observing and studying the primates within their habitats.

Primate conservation has long been a topic of debate, reliant most heavily on the struggle to provide the necessary resources to combat the declining rate of population growth among various species. Orangutans in particular, both Sumatran and Bornean, have experienced a rapid drop in their free-living populations. With an estimate of only 27,000 left in the wild, questions have been raised over what selective pressures are impacting the steady decline of these animals existence. While hunting and poaching have been identified as contributing factors, habitat loss primarily takes center stage in their demise. Conservation efforts have been made and continue to be somewhat successful, however, challenges and set backs continue to threaten

While I thought that Peterson’s descriptions sufficed to help the readers see how apes were treated – dead or alive, the pictures were more shocking. Originally, I skipped over the pictures, but they served to help bring Peterson’s words to life. Prior

Orangutans (Figure 3) are our first cousins since they share 97 percent of our genetic material. Contrary to other apes, orangutans are semi solitary which is unique in its social organization (3). Adult males which are the most solitary, and they associate with only their current, former, and potential consorts. For the semi-solitary orangutans, the only playmate is its mother. Even female adults are more social than male ones, rarely they groom, touch, hold hands, chase, or fight. On rare occasions, female adults may groom; however, it lasts only few seconds. Sometimes, female adults meet and travel with one another to express the close relationship. The long call by a male orangutan expresses an alert to others about his presence. Usually, other orangutans only react if the call is close by or aggressive towards them. Male orangutan can use vocalization to express that he is angry and frustrated, and that call signals a threat to another male (3). Female orangutans also produce vocalization when they get upset by the presence of another male.

Stan Rice describes how these monkeys are carefree and they live their lives authentically. While the two friends are watching the monkeys they experience moments that would typically be considered private for humans. Rice writes: “And then there will be those moments we are embarrassed/and

I observed a type of Ape known as the Western Lowland Gorilla. The scientific name for a Gorilla is the Gorilla gorilla. Gorillas are the largest of all living primates and at native to west central Africa. Gorillas exhibit sexual dimorphism within their species because males are very obviously much larger than females. The size of the gorillas came across very intimating and gave me an off impression of what this specie was actually going to be like. While observing the gorillas I noticed that these creatures are very slow, lethargic primates. Gorillas move quadrupedally by putting weight down on their arms and knuckles as they walk. They have hands and opposable thumbs, like humans, and are able to grasp things with a better grip. When Gorillas need to reach above themselves such as for leaves or branches they are able to stand on both legs while reaching. While resting Gorillas sit on their bottoms, legs to the side in a similar position that humans do. When resting I noticed that sometimes Gorillas like to take advantage of the moment by self grooming, using their hands. Gorillas usually have an herbivore diet but eat occasional insects. Due to their large body structure it is harder for them move around quickly so they do not need to eat foods that contain as much nutrients and proteins as smaller,

The other adult female that would be my focal point did emerge but remained less social and more timid than the other orangutans but was also younger. The orangutans as supported by San Diego Zoo Orangutan website would use all four limbs to move about the trees and would occasionally walk on the ground bipedally and using its long arms for support. One of the more curious observations was the interaction between the non-human primates and the humans which seemed to stem of curiosity on both sides. For instance at one point before the focal observation an adult human female with her infant were tapping on the glass of the enclosure and the adult human female began to pull things from her purse and show it to the orangutan who was leaning on the glass barrier; among many of the items was a bag of chocolate candies which the orangutan did not particularly respond to. The eldest adult female orangutan however seemed to respond very curiously and attentively to any infant or child that approached the enclosure.

For the Orangutan in the zoo each enclosure they had a total of three orangutan in each pen, most were all adults, except one which was a young juvenile. As well as it is appear to be that none of these orangutan are a part of a subgroup because some, if not all isolated themselves from others. In which is very common according to Lang C. (2005), "Adult males and independent adolescents of both sexes range alone while adult females range with their dependent and weaned offspring" (Primate Factsheet pongo, para. 1). So the zoo's orangutan act very similar to the wild ones. Next the differences is how are they physically built between in each others. For the orangutan, if they are standing they are about 5 feet tall, however including arm and leg span due to how they are built to climb and swing to places their body size will be seven feet tall. Another difference was that they had no tail due to they ancestors evolution to who they are now, which remove the chance of having the ability to have a prehensile tail in the process. The last physically difference is their hands. They have all fingers and thumbs, but they don't use their thumbs to grab; they use mostly their fingers to grasp objects. Which make them who they are

Kavanagh, M. & Morris, D. (1983). Complete guide to monkeys, apes and other primates. London: Viking Press.

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Los Angeles zoo on a beautiful, sunny Thursday (October 19th). Although I arrived off schedule which left a minimal amount of time to observe primates, I managed my time well. After being told that the larger animals get put away earlier, I figured my first stop would be at an ape enclosure. The ape I chose to see that day was the gorilla. The time that I began my observation was at approximately 3:05. At that time only one ape was quite visible and he was sitting at the front making eye contact with me making it seem as if he is HABITUATED. Next, post gorilla watching, I had the chance to take a gander at the ring railed lemurs at 3:40. These prosimians all had their own personalities which interested me deeply. Lastly, and certainly not least on my journey through the LA zoo, I had the chance of looking at the mandrills which were once classified as baboons. Considering that two baby mandrills were present and only a month old, this was my favorite exhibit to see because of their high energy and randomness of actions.